Advani seems to prefer Chouhan over Modi

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani today appeared to prefer an "humble" Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the race for the party's prime ministerial face in next Lok Sabha elections.

"Atal Bihari Vajpayee implemented several developmental schemes, including road network but he always remained very humble and far away from arrogance. "Similarly, Chouhan has also formulated a large number of development and welfare schemes like Ladli Laxmi scheme and Mukya Mantri Teerth Darshan Yojna and implemented them successfully. Despite so many achievements, Chouhan never had any ego. I found Chouhan very humble, like Vajpayee," Advani told BJP's booth-level coordinators here.

He said Gujarat was already a "healthy" state and Modi transformed it into the "best" state, but what Chouhan and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh did was to successfully turn around a BIMARU state into a developed state. "I tell Narendrabhai that Gujarat was healthy earlier also. You have made it the best and you deserve congratulations for that. But what Chouhan and his Chhattisgarh counterpart did was wonderful," he said.

He said BJP wants both Chouhan and Modi "to play a major role in securing India an important place in the world."

Both the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are now reckoned as models of development even outside India, Advani claimed.